Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Resisting Mining: Brutal Repression and Uprising in Argentina http://upsidedownworld.org/main/argentina-archives-32/2376-resisting-mining-brutal-repression-and-uprising-in-argentina

Residents in Northern Argentina have protested the opening of an open pit mining site in the town of Andalgala in the province of Catamarca . A recent police crackdown on the protest has sparked a popular uprising of citizens saying, ‘no to the mine’. Following massive protests in response to police repression this month, a judge temporarily halted further mine works planned to open in 2012.

The mine is owned by Agua Rica, a subsidiary of Yamana Gold Inc., a Canadian-based gold producer which plans to begin mining operations in the town of Andalgalá in 2012. Yamana Gold has mining sites in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Honduras. Yamana failed to comply with the law in conducting a study on the environmental impact required by the provincial Mining Secretary, making exploration illegal. The Agua Rica site in Andalgala would be three times the size of another mining operation in Catamarca, La Alumbrera which has caused environmental and health risks for residents since it opened in 1998. La Alumbrera is currently the largest open pit mining site in Argentina.

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"University of informers? With money, the Colombian government seeks to turn students into informers http://www.realworldradio.fm/Universidad-de-soplones

Special Report from the Colombian capital with visions of a teacher and a college student on the official plan of the government of Álvaro Uribe to buy information at their place of study for its own ends and repressive policies. The major cities of Colombia are undergoing a critical economic and social upheaval seeing a wave of urban violence and a strong security crisis. The most recent proposal on this matter raised by the government of Colombia, is one which involves the linking of university students to a network of informants in the service of the armed forces is severely contested by a university professor and a student. 

The initiative to buy information openly takes place in a country on the campaign trail toward parliamentary elections in March and with uncertainty through the process of staying power of Álvaro Uribe in a third consecutive term. "What this shows is that there is a flop in security policies," says Gerardo Velez university professor who also topped the comment that "there are a policy decision to link the civilian population in armed conflict. This is declaring war against civil society civil society. " Hand in hand with this security plan, the university loses its essence of freedom of opinion and critical thinking to become a powerhouse by accusations, in an information service over the repressive Colombian State says Velez.

For his part, National University student questions this proposal, because the Armed Forces of Colombia are involved in cases of violation of Human Rights: "we can not consider legitimate the armed forces that are  attacking the villages, which are killing them then by dressing the peasants as guerrillas ... "he says. Disappearances, crimes and threats against students are among the expected results of this policy, says the universitarian whose identity is reserved for security reasons. Those interviewed  agree that this is just another example of the multiple attacks against social rights, social organization, constitutional institutions, university autonomy and democracy.

"The scandal''Gerardo Velez The teacher reflects on the real effect of this acquisition  program of information, saying  "until there is another scandal that reveals another Colombian politics is made up of scandal after scandal,and it never solves the problems in the end"they just resume. As an example see the case of privatized health system that drives the Uribe administration.  Velez also sends a message to the international community to carry out a "carefully monitoring of  what is happening here in terms of gross violations of human rights," specifically regarding "false positives", ie civilians massacred and retrospective belligerents fraudulently identified as justification.

As a student of the Colombian capital's National University he says some of the actions of protest from the student body was being carried out against this measure. Like Velez, who is consistently emphasizing the need for international supervision over the events taking place every day in Colombia, of which this measure of betrayal is one more example.

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JINSA Sponsors Panel at 7th Annual Jerusalem Conference http://www.jinsa.org/node/1304

Counterinsurgency and Counterterrorism: Wars of the 21st Century A JINSA delegation in Israel last week participated in two programs designed to advance the discussion of Afghanistan, Lebanon, Gaza and other non-conventional wars of this decade beyond a description of the adversaries of the West and into the means of defeating them. 

First, at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, and then at the 7th Jerusalem Conference, Maj. Gen. Sid Shachnow, USA (ret.); Brig. Gen. David Grange, USA (ret.); R. Adm. John Sigler, USN (ret.); and Shoshana Bryen, JINSA’s senior director for security policy, were joined by Israeli military professionals to consider the philosophical and practical underpinnings of 21st Century warfare.

Who is the enemy? What social and political network can he access? What social and political network can we access?What constitutes victory–for him and for us? We fight with tanks, drones, planes and guns; the enemy also fights with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), the Goldstone Report, the media and public perception. How can we do that and what changes does it force on the battlefield in terms of rules of engagement and potential litigation?

comment-this pro israel institute a pro state terrorism institute working out counter terrorism workshops featuring zionist retired us miltary brass,finding ways on how to win the pr battle,notice how it states''We fight with tanks, drones, planes and guns; the enemy also fights with Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), the Goldstone Report, the media and public perception.''

sick yes,very much so...this institute is a rabid zionist tax exempt think tank for israel in the united states.It is always showering us military admirals and other military dignitaries awards for their efforts to figth israels battles!!!also see...JINSA Behind Drive To Cover-Up Israeli Spy Scandal http://www.rense.com/general18/JINSA.htm

Jason Vest, "The Men From JINSA and CSP http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml%3Fi=20020902&s=vest

JINSA  9/13 pushing for war on Iraq: http://zfacts.com/p/160.html -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Canadian Company Begins Uranium Mining Grand Canyon http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2010/02/uranium-mining-begins-at-grand-canyon.html

GRAND CANYON, Ariz. -- In defiance of legal challenges and a U.S. Government moratorium, Canadian company Denison Mines has started mining uranium on the north rim of the Grand Canyon. According to the Arizona Daily Sun the mine has been operating since December 2009.Denison plans on extracting 335 tons of uranium per day out of the "Arizona 1 Mine", which is set to operate four days per week. The hazardous ore will be hauled by truck more than 300 miles through towns and communities to the company's White Mesa mill located near Blanding, Utah

Uranium is a known cause of cancers, organ damage, miscarriages & birth defects. Drilling for the radioactive material has been found to contaminate underground aquifers that drain into the Colorado River, and sacred springs that have sustained Indigenous Peoples in the region. In addition, surface water can flow into drill holes and mine shafts which can also poison underground water sources.Today there are more than 2,000 abandoned uranium mines in the Southwest. U.S. government agencies have done little or nothing to clean up contaminated sites and abandoned mines. At Rare Metals near Tuba City on the Diné (Navajo) Nation a layer of soil and rock is the only covering over 2.3 million tons of hazardous waste.

A rock dam surrounds the radioactive waste to control runoff water that flows into nearby Moenkopi Wash. Throughout the Diné Nation, Diné families have been subject to decades of radioactive contamination ranging from unsafe mining conditions to living in houses built from uranium tailings.Well water is documented by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as undrinkable in at least 22 communities such as Black Falls on the Dine’ Nation. According to the EPA, "Approximately 30 percent of the Navajo population does not have access to a public drinking water system and may be using unregulated water sources with uranium contamination." Flocks of sheep and other livestock still graze among radioactive tailing piles and ingest radioactive water. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

US Advice to Europe: Spend More on War-Making http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/02/23-4

WASHINGTON - Europe has demilitarized too much since the end of the Cold War and its underfunded defense budgets are undermining shared security goals, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Tuesday.Gates, addressing a NATO seminar in Washington, said too few helicopters and cargo aircraft for the NATO mission in Afghanistan were "directly impacting operations." NATO also needed more aerial refueling tankers and surveillance aircraft.

"The demilitarization of Europe ... has gone from a blessing in the 20th century to an impediment to achieving real security and lasting peace in the 21st," Gates said."Not only can real or perceived weakness be a temptation to miscalculation and aggression, but, on a more basic level, the resulting funding and capability shortfalls make it difficult to operate and fight together to confront shared threats."

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ NATO airstrike in Afghanistan kills 27, including women and children http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-fg-afghan-airstrike23-2010feb23,0,6744578.story

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Iran nabs Sunni militant from flight 'in blow to US' http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Iran_nabs_Sunni_militant_from_fligh_02232010.html

Iran arrested a top Sunni militant on a flight from Dubai only 24 hours after he was at a US military base in Afghanistan, in what it hailed Tuesday as a "defeat" for its Western arch-foes.The claim came from Iranian Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi, who said the militant leader Abdolmalek Rigi had even been issued an Afghan passport by the "Americans," traveled to Europe, and met with a NATO military chief in Afghanistan. Rigi, Iran's most wanted fugitive who is accused of launching deadly attacks from Pakistan, had been tracked by Iranian agents for five months before his arrest, said Moslehi.The capture was "a great defeat for the US and UK," the minister said at a media conference reported by Iranian state media, accusing the United States and Britain of involvement in "continuous plots" in the region."It is such a scandal for Dubai in this incident which shows that the Zionist regime (Israel), by using (the) US and Europe, is seeking to turn the region into a haven for terrorists.

"This scandal cannot be covered up," said Moslehi, who held up pictures of Rigi he said were taken "inside a US military base in Afghanistan by Iranian agents", and of his identity card.Iran claims Rigi has links with the intelligence services of Pakistan, Britain and the United States.It accuses him of carrying out attacks in Sistan-Baluchestan, the restive province on a major narcotics-smuggling route bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan.Sistan-Baluchestan is home to a significant population of Sunni Baluchis and is a hotbed of the sect's insurgency against the Islamic republic's Shiite rulers.In October 2009, Jundallah claimed it was behind a brutal suicide bombing in the provincial town of Pisheen that killed 42 people, including seven commanders of Iran's Revolutionary Guards and several tribal leaders.

comment-also see...CIA funds Jundullah in Balochistan to attack Iran http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxlmHabxfXA

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Joe Stack, Austin ‘Suicide’ Pilot, Co-owned Hanger with Homeland Security Initiative Program Manager http://cryptogon.com/?p=13842

Austinist found this page on the Williamson Central Appraisal District website (mirror)that lists the owners of a hanger at the Georgetown airport as John Podolak and Joseph Stack. Who is John Podolak? L-3 page: AVISYS Executive Named Program Manager for Department of Homeland Security Counter-MANPADS Initiative John Podolak to Oversee Transition of Team’s Anti-Missile System to Commercial Applications

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US war embezzlement visualized: 4-minute video banned from Congress testimony: “Iraq for Sale” http://www.examiner.com/x-18425-LA-County-Nonpartisan-Examiner~y2010m2d23-US-war-embezzlement-visualized-4minute-video-banned-from-Congress-testimony-Iraq-for-Sale

Robert Greenwald, the creator of Brave New Films, testified to the House Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Defense about war profiteering. He planned to show a 4-minute excerpt from his film, “Iraq for Sale,” as a more powerful communication than his mere speaking but was blocked by a majority vote of those in favor of the Iraq war.

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Dutch Health Minister, Ab Klink - Independent investigation into Swine Flu vaccination campaign required http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/h1n1-vaccination-campaign-under-scrutiny

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Kremlin responds to US-NATO Threats: Russia Deploys Missiles on Western Frontier with European Union http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17771

The question is what new threats from the West does the Russian Defense Minister need to realize what is going on? The US stated with utmost clarity that its missile defense infrastructures would be sited in Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria. Other countries – Georgia and Turkey – will possibly also host them in the future. Is that not enough? Shall we wait for more? The threats are listed in Russia's official military doctrine. Washington audaciously explains that it plans to site the missile shield in the proximity of Russia's borders to neutralize the missile threat posed by North Korea and Iran. The authors of such “explanations” must be making fun of Russia.

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US: End Child Labor in the Fields http://www.kintera.org/c.nlIWIgN2JwE/b.5800699/k.393C/US_End_Child_Labor_in_the_Fields/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx

Hundreds of thousands of children are employed as farmworkers in the United States, often working 10 or more hours a day.They are often exposed to dangerous pesticides, experience high rates of injury, and suffer fatalities at five times the rate of other working youth. Their long hours contribute to alarming drop-out rates. Government statistics show that barely half ever finish high school.

According to the National Safety Council, agriculture is the second most dangerous occupation in the United States. However, current US child labor laws allow child farmworkers to work longer hours, at younger ages, and under more hazardous conditions than other working youths

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